New depths of sea studies at Monterey Bay research institute

Space has been called "the final frontier," but solutions to many of the critical problems of our own planet are being pursued on a daily basis by men and women who study the astounding mysteries of our oceans.

And comparatively speaking, it's being done on a shoestring budget.

Scientists and engineers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) showed off their newest and best equipment —including two research ships — during an open house Saturday celebrating the 25th anniversary of the cutting-edge research lab in Moss Landing.

The day included the ceremonial christening of the institute's newest vessel, the Rachel Carson, by aquarium board chairman Julie Packard, whose father, David, founded MBARI in 1987. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation funds the institute as a nonprofit organization.

"The entire oceanographic budget from the National Science Foundation is somewhere in the vicinity of $300 million," said Jim Bellingham, MBARI's chief technologist. "That sounds like a lot of money, but it's less than one satellite launch. The actual expenditure in marine sciences is very small, which is why this organization of 220 people can make such a big difference.

"In fact, if you look at the ocean sciences budget, the fraction of that which is going into developing the next generation of technology is very small," he said.

Bellingham's expertise is in developing Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) — unmanned and untethered contraptions that can be programmed to operate at up to 6,000 meters below the ocean's surface. The newest generation of AUV can map the ocean floor, measure physical characteristics of the water (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen), detect chlorophyll from marine algae, measure concentrations of small particles in the water, and collect images of the seafloor and the midwater.

The undersea robots have enabled ocean scientists to make startling discoveries in recent years about the ocean's creatures and its ecosystem.

"Cephalopods are mollusks related to our garden snail, but much more advanced — basically super-mollusks," said Henk-Jan Hoving, a deep-sea biologist at the institute. "Here in the Monterey Submarine Canyon, we see quite an abundance of pelagic cephalopods. I'm very lucky to be able to study these animals using ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles)."

Hoving's research focuses in part on life cycles, growth, mating and spawning. The ability of AUVs and ROVs to go to greater depths has enabled scientists such as Hoving and Bellingham to study the behavior of deep-sea creatures like never before.

"In the first 200 meters (of depth), light still penetrates enough to sustain growth. Beneath that, animals live continually in the dark, which has consequences, such as (difficulty in) mate finding," Hoving said. "... We're interested in how these animals have adapted to survive."

The deep-sea robots are deployed from MBARI ships such as the Western Flyer, a 117-foot twin hull oceanographic research vessel that serves as a stable platform for deploying, operating and recovering a tethered ROV, called the Doc Ricketts, to a depth of 4,000 meters.

Also in the fleet is the Zephyr, an 85-foot ship traded to MBARI by the San Francisco Bar Pilots in exchange for three tickets to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

"That was a good deal — a real good deal," said Steve Echemendi, MBARI's Director of Marine Operations. The Zephyr operates as the primary support ship for MBARI's AUV program.

The Rachel Carson, still under construction and renovation, is a 135-foot ship that carries 35,000 gallons of fuel — enough to travel from San Francisco to Hawaii and back on just half a tank.

"This was an old supply vessel that we cleaned up, fixed the engines, and bought for $3.75 million," said Echemendi. "Now it's a good-running boat that we're converting into an oceanographic boat."

Several science labs will be aboard the finished ship to analyze chemical, biological, geological, physical and geophysical oceanography. MBARI has installed a system 900 meters deep in Monterey Bay that provides 10 kilowatts of power and Internet connectivity, enabling scientists to maintain experiments for weeks, months, even years at a time.

"It enables us to be out there whenever the really interesting stuff happens ...If we can dock with them, we can recharge it, we can dump data, we can provide it with a new mission," Bellingham said. "And as I'm watching all of that happen, I'm sitting onshore, drinking my cappuccino, and nobody's getting seasick. There's a lot of work going on right now to figure out how to support these instruments in some very remote locations."

Bellingham said MBARI is studying methods of converting wind and waves into energy and electricity on the open seas.

Human activity is affecting the ocean in ways we don't understand, Bellingham said.

"And you can't fully understand those things by only monitoring Monterey Bay or Cape Cod Bay," he said. "You need a global presence and be able to conduct these experiments. ...Hopefully these new systems will revolutionize our understanding of the ocean."